Warning of Energy Vampires on Halloween

No doubt you’ll see a lot of little vampires running around tonight, asking for Halloween candy. What you may not know, however, is there are likely dozens of vampires in your house right now.

And no, this isn’t some Halloween trick.

We’re talking about energy vampires, which are scary year round and suck money out of your checking account.

So what are energy vampires? They’re the things you leave plugged in 24/7 that slowly and surely use electricity – even when they’re not in use. Things like your TV, your DVD player, cell phone chargers, etc. According to Energy Star, the average US household spends $100 a year in wasted energy because of these energy vampires.

Of course there are some things you have to leave plugged in, like your refrigerator, obviously. You may even have to leave your DVR plugged in for it to work properly. But if you have a group of items that can be turned off when not in use, Energy Star recommends plugging them into a centralized power strip so you can easily turn them on and off with one switch.

(Ben Hubbert is the co-owner of Champion AC, a heating and air conditioning company in San Antonio. He’s also the main force behind Champion AC’s San Antonio Energy Champions program. Connect with Ben on Google+.)